Water consumption during the Canada/US Olympic hockey game

Every Canadian knows that when the gold medal game is on, you "hold it" until the intermission.

No matter how many beers you've chugged while cheering on Team Canada, you don't want to miss the big goal, hard hit or key save in a crucial hockey match.

Now the whole world can see a graphic illustration of this Canadian cultural phenomenon.

That's thanks to a hilarious - and highly informative - chart, showing water use in Edmonton during the Vancouver Olympic Gold Medal game between the Canadian and the U.S. men's ice hockey teams.

The image, produced by EPCOR, Edmonton's water utility, clearly shows the spikes in water use as Edmonton hockey fans flush their toilets, turn on their taps, et cetera, between periods, and especially after the broadcast of the big game on February 28th.

According to Tim le Riche of EPCOR Media Relations, the item made its way onto Twitter after being lifted from an internal publication. It's worked its way into many blogs and media outlets since then. Some keen commentators appear to have reproduced the graph without permission, in their excitement to put it into their pages. Bad bloggers!

But you can see why they're so anxious to present the pic. This isn't just a corporate chart. This is an insight into our national character. Fans in Edmonton here represent Canadians across the country, adding their own discomfort to the efforts of our boys on ice. The players "take one for the team" while we avoid taking one.

It's nothing less than a portrait of a nation peeing. Canada's golden moments!